Greater New Orleans

Cyrus Casby, then 19, is escorted in 2004 by Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office Detective Jeffrey Rodrigue, left, and Lt. Don English. Now 28, he is on trial in federal court in New Orleans on charges of arson affecting interstate commerce resulting in injury or death, in connection with the 2004 fire he allegedly set at his ex-girlfriend's apartment on Tallow Tree Lane. His ex-girlfriend was stabbed to death before the fire was started, and three others, including Casby's 19-month-old daughter Cyanna, died.
(Susan Poag, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

I want to terminate the services of the federal public defender, and I would like to declare a mistrial." Defendant Cyrus Casby to Judge Eldon Fallon

Federal fire experts investigating a fatal blaze at a Harvey apartment concluded in a Maryland laboratory that an accelerant such as gasoline was used to ignite the flames, and that victims would have been incapacitated by toxic smoke in as little as one minute. That testimony capped off federal prosecutors' case Wednesday against Cyrus Casby, the former Marrero resident who is on trial this week on charges of arson affecting interstate commerce and resulting in death or injury.

Casby, 28, could face life in prison if convicted as charged. The jury could begin deliberations as soon as Thursday (Aug. 15). Although DNA evidence ties him to the Nov. 10, 2004, fire and stabbings on Tallow Tree Lane, Casby says his confession was coerced, and that detectives planted evidence. His 19-month-old daughter and her teenage mother, who was Casby's ex-girlfriend, were among the victims.

In 2008, a Jefferson Parish jury acquitted Casby of murder in the 24th Judicial District Court. Within a year of that verdict, according to testimony Wednesday, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives opened an investigation that included two full-scale replicas of the Tallow Tree Lane apartment's second floor. The replicas were built at the agency's Fire Research Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., considered the largest of its type in the world. Authorities did not reveal the cost for the investigation, which led to Casby's indictment by a federal grand jury in 2011.

ATF scientist David Tucholski testified that 11 tests were done at the mock-up to determine whether an accelerant was used, how much was used, and how quickly the victims would have been overcome by smoke. They also tried to determine whether the fire could have started accidentally by a candle knocked over on carpet, which Casby had suggested in his confession. Not so, Tucholski said. "The fire didn't spread," he said.

The ATF estimates 1 1/2 gallons of gasoline were poured onto the carpeted landing and upper stairs, then ignited. Authorities say the victims, one of whom was already dead from stab wounds, were trapped in the two upstairs bedrooms.

Two children found on a bed, Casby's toddler daughter Cyanna Carto and her uncle Cleveland McGinnis, 11,
would have been overcome in about a minute, Tucholski said. A boy hiding in a closet, Jarvis Carto, then 10, would have been incapacitated in about seven minutes, Tucholski testified. Jarvis Carto survived but has irreversible brain damage from the smoke. Tucholski estimated that no more than 15 minutes passed between when 911 was called and firefighters began removing bodies from the apartment.

Before setting the fire, Casby allegedy stabbed three people in the apartment, including his ex-girlfriend Cynthia Carto, 17, Cyanna's mother. She died from her stab wounds. Her mother, Janice Carto, 33, and McGinnis also were stabbed and died in the smoke.

Casby's blood was found smeared on the front door to the apartment, while Janice Carto's blood was found on Casby's clothing and shoe, retired Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office DNA analyst Bonnie DuBourg testified. Evidence of gasoline also was found on the clothing, a forensic scientist testified earlier this week.

Sheriff's Office Capt. Larry Dyess testified Wednesday that Casby directed him to the clothing, which was stashed in a plastic storage bin in a yard neighboring Casby's parents' home on Singleton Drive in Marrero.

Casby has alleged that deputies planted the clothing there, and on Wednesday, his attorney Robin Ljungberg challenged Dyess on the discovery, pointing out that Dyess' cellular phone records list no calls between the detective and the investigations bureau where Casby was being arrested when the clothing was found. Dyess testified he used the phone's "push-to-talk" feature, which leaves no call record.

Another witness, Kenyara Harris, 25, testified she was friends with Cynthia Carto, whom she said was dating her uncle, Ike, when she died. She recounted witnessing an incident at Cynthia Carto's workplace, a nearby Taco Bell, where Carto and one of her younger brothers fought with Casby less than two weeks before the fatal fire. Cynthia Carto, Harris said, had told Casby she had gotten pregnant by Ike. She said the Carto siblings appeared to be the aggressors in the fight.

"I saw them hitting each other," Harris testified. "He was hitting Cynthia. Cynthia was hitting him, and her little brother was hitting him."

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gregory Kennedy and William Quinlan rested their case after Tucholski's testimony. Ljungberg opened his case with testimony from three of Casby's family members, all of whom suggested he was at the Casbys' Singleton Drive home when the fire was set about 3:45 a.m.

Another defense witness, attorney David Belfield, testified he went to the Sheriff's Office investigations bureau in Harvey to meet with Casby, but an unidentified man turned him away. When Belfield pressed to see the suspect, the man said Casby had already confessed. "He said, 'We're not letting you in,'" Belfield testified. He signed a Sheriff's Office logbook, documenting his presence, at 8:40 a.m. Casby apparently confessed almost two hours later.

Questioned by Kennedy, the prosecutor, Belfield said he told Casby's father, Fred Casby Sr., "our recourse was, we need to tell a judge what transpired." Yet he never spoke with a judge. Kennedy, through questioning, got the point across that Casby, who at 19 was considered an adult, waived his Miranda rights to remain silent and to have an attorney present during questioning about three hours before Belfield arrived. Detectives had no legal obligation to let Belfield in at that point, Kennedy said.

Fred Casby Sr. testified he awoke at 2:15 a.m., and, unable to sleep, watched television in the living room. No one came or went before he began preparing for work about 4 a.m., he said. About 4:40 a.m., a neighbor rang the doorbell with news of the Tallow Tree fire, Fred Casby testified. He, his son and his wife went to Tallow Tree Lane, where Casby was arrested.

Casby's brother Quentin Casby testified he shared a room with Casby and said the doorbell woke him. His younger brother was in bed, he said. He acknowledged under questioning by Kennedy that Casby could have entered the bedroom earlier and he would not have known it.

Yolanda Hughes, Casby's mother, testified she woke up at 3:30 a.m. to prepare her husband's breakfast and lunch. She recounted the neighbor delivering the news, and of informing her sons. When the family members arrived at Tallow Tree Lane, they encountered a group of "young people, telling us not to allow Cyrus to go" to the scene. She did not elaborate. Moments later, she saw her son being taken into custody. "I saw an officer slam him against a wall and handcuff him," she testified.

A witness for the government testified earlier this week that she was sleeping in the Cartos' apartment and heard the commotion upstairs. She fled the apartment before seeing the smoke, and then saw Casby running away. Authorities believe Casby stabbed the three people and set the place on fire before driving to his home, about 10 minutes away, stashing his clothing in the neighboring yard and sneaking past his family to his bed, before returning with his parents to Tallow Tree Lane about an hour later. By then, Casby already was a suspect.

On Wednesday morning, after Dyess' testimony, Casby disrupted the trial in front of the jury, standing up and telling Judge Eldon Fallon his constitutional right to due process was being violated because he was unable to bring his case file with him to court. He blamed it on his being transferred from a St. Charles Parish jail to one in St. Bernard Parish.

"I want to terminate the services of the federal public defender, and I would like to declare a mistrial," Casby said as Fallon was ordering federal marshals to escort jurors out of the courtroom. Fallon then asked Ljungberg why his client was upset. "Your honor, I have no idea," Ljunberg said.

Soon after, deputy marshals converged on the court and ordered the audience out, including a reporter. Fallon later held a 10-minute hearing in the locked courtroom, at times speaking directly with Casby, before calling for the lunch recess. After lunch, before the jury returned, Fallon spoke to Casby. "It's not really appropriate for you or the system to have outbursts like that. Do you understand?" Fallon asked. "Yes, your honor," Casby replied

Afterwards, Fallon instructed the jury to disregard Casby's "outburst" and said the defendant didn't mean to speak out. "His attorney is doing a good job speaking for him," Fallon told jurors of Ljungberg.

Casby, who earlier this week wore glasses and regularly wrote notes and read paperwork, appeared disinterested in the trial for the remainder of Wednesday. He did not wear his glasses throughout the afternoon, barely spoke with Ljungberg and left a stack of files in front of him untouched.